This time, they reeled in the opportunity of a lifetime.
Local country band 17 South recently recorded the soundtrack for a reality television show, The Catch: Costa Rica, on the Outdoors Channel.
"It's pretty neat to see yourself on TV," said lead guitarist Chris Powers. "It's an experience. I'm just kind of along for the ride right now, and all the guys are excited about it."
The Catch: Costa Rica is a reality competitive series in which 12 contestants live with one another and hone their angling skills to out-fish each other in half-hour episodes. At the end of each round of competition during the series, the contestants vote which of them will be eliminated and left on dry land until only one remains to claim the $50,000 prize.
17 South wrote and recorded the theme song and background music for each show, which was produced by StandOff Studios. Mr. Powers said the theme song has no vocals, and is "a theme song with more of a rock feel than we normally do," but the background music during the show "goes anywhere from country to jazz, to blues, some with vocals and some without."
"They wanted a real rockin' tune to bring the show in and out with," he said. "It's pretty neat. It was good for us because we got to prove to ourselves that we are versatile. We don't have to play just country. And I don't really think our country is country. It's definitely got a southern rock edge to it."
The band members - Mr. Powers, lead singer Tony Cannon, bass player Jake Jacobs, drummer Johnnie Brantley and acoustics player Bart Ficzere - all live in Thomson. StandOff Studios also produced three different advertisements for the band's new CD, Rusted and Rugged, which appear during commercial breaks of the show.
17 South has opened for 19 national acts such as Tracy Lawrence and Little Texas. This past spring, they were named the Georgia 2008 Country Band of the Year by Atlanta Country Music.com. Mr. Powers said he didn't expect them to ever do anything "above and beyond that," but they've been making waves since the reality show and commercials.
"We've got people calling and a lot of new venues. We are booked all over Georgia and Carolina right now," he said. "In just a matter of a week, we had the rest of the year booked solid. It didn't take long to fill it up once the word got out."
The Catch: Costa Rica premiered on July 4, and continues at 10 p.m. every Friday for 13 weeks, with the Ultimate Fisherman being announced on Sept. 26. To find out more about the show, visit www.thecatchseries.com. To learn more about 17 South, visit www.17southusa.com.
